Nationwide Building Society has sounded a note of caution about the financial sector’s approach to lending in the run-up to Brexit.

Joe Garner, its chief executive, said the society’s research showed customers did not expect the UK’s exit from the EU to change the way they could borrow from banks and building societies.

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Garner said the public had become less optimistic about the economy. “It will be important for lenders to carefully balance credit supply with affordability as we seek to support the long-term interests of consumers in a responsible way through any potential economic slowdown ahead,” he added.

As the Swindon-based society announced a fall in profits in the first three months of its financial year, Garner also said it was important lenders did not overreact. He did not foresee any major changes to its approach to lending.

The society was one of the first to tighten its criteria for buy-to-let mortgages 18 months ago. It required landlords to prove that their rental income was at least 145% of their monthly mortgage payments, up from 125%. It also grants buy-to-let mortgages of up to 75% of the value of the property, down from 80%.

This, along with changes to tax, was cited as the reason for a fall in Nationwide’s mortgage lending in the three months to the end of June. New buy-to-let lending halved to £800m from the same period a year ago – which was cancelled out by buy-to-let mortgages being repaid, as the society said there had been “no net growth” in this range.

Across its entire mortgage range, lending – when repaid loans were also taken into account – was down to £2.4bn from £3.5bn.

He said: “Profit performance in the first quarter remained comfortably within our strategic target range and, after allowing for one-off items, was broadly consistent with the prior period.” There was a one-off £26m gain this quarter and a £100m gain the previous quarter.

Garner highlighted the society’s expansion in current accounts, an area traditionally dominated by the big four banks – Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Barclays. About 202,000 current accounts were opened at Nationwide in the first three months, with more than one in five people switching accounts moving to the society.

A MoneySavingExpert.com survey published on Friday put Nationwide second for current account service. HSBC’s First Direct arm was top, while RBS was bottom. NatWest – a division of RBS – was eighth out of 11.